Homosexual animals?

[Kfamr]

I remember reading on here that it's been proven that animals, other than humans, can be homosexual.

I was just wondering if whoever posted this could give me some more information on it, maybe some sites/facts.


We talked about this today in biology because some girl asked if dogs could be gay. My biology teach said it probably isn't possible or whatever.

I'd love to prove her wrong, or have an argument against it.

Thanks!

[wolfie]

My mom showed me an article a while ago about gay penguins at a zoo...

okay, I just found it online: :)
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp

The site also has this quote:
"Bruce Bagemihl's "Biological Exuberance," published in 1999, documents homosexual behavior in more than 450 animal species. The list includes grizzly bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls and even several species of salmon."

so homsexuality isn't 'unnatural' at all.

[guster girl]

I know I read online somewhere that male manatees have been seen performing fellatio on eachother. I'll see if I can find the site. It was accidental when I found it to begin with, so, I'm not sure if I can find it again. I'm pretty sure chimps can be homosexual, too. They're supposedly one of (if not the) only species besides humans that have sex in the missionary position, facing eachother. Crazy, interesting stuff.

[wolfie]

Originally posted by guster girl
It was accidental when I found it to begin with, so, I'm not sure if I can find it again.

I don't want to know what you were searching for! lol

[aly]

I think it depends on how you define gay.

Just doing the sexual acts or actually having loving emotions? I would say its not possible because I sort of think sexuality is based on love. As far as I know, animals can't feel actual romantic love for another animal. I think the sexual acts might make them feel good, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're gay.

Who knows though. Just my opinion.

[Logan]

Originally posted by aly
I think it depends on how you define gay.

Just doing the sexual acts or actually having loving emotions? I would say its not possible because I sort of think sexuality is based on love. As far as I know, animals can't feel actual romantic love for another animal. I think the sexual acts might make them feel good, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're gay.

Who knows though. Just my opinion.

I totally agree with you, Aly. This doesn't happen often at my house, but just last night, I saw Honey trying to "hump" (no offense, people, I just don't know what else to call it) Lilly. They never do that, but Lilly had a toy that Honey wanted. A few minutes later, they reversed roles. No telling what they were thinking!!!! :eek:

[aly]

Hehehe Logan. I am not offended by the word "hump", but when I'm at the shelter talking to the public, I say "mount" instead. I get embarrassed saying the word "hump" in front of people I don't know.

I do know that most mounting is related to dominance and not sexual at all. The mounting that is sexual is just instincts and I wouldn't classify it as homosexual, even if they were doing it to the same sex :o :o

Glad this is the dog house. I feel weird having humping discussions on a public forum, hee :p

[CathyBogart]

Yes! There are instances of exclusively homosexual animals in almost every species! There is a book I have called "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity", and I recommend that EVERYONE flip through it at some point. It was a HUGE eye-opener for me!!

I'll pull out info about dogs that I find in there....*looking*

"Same-sex pair bonding as well as homosexual mounting (including ejaculation between males) had been documented in Dogs, including breeds such as Beagles, Basenjis, Cocker Spaniels, and Weimeraners. Examples of both female and male homosexual behavior in Cats have also been confirmed, including mutual genital stimulation and mounting among females, and mounting leading to orgasm among males..."

There's a little more on domestic animals in there, but the vast majority of the book is about wild animals. I'm BLOWN AWAY by how many species form life-long homosexual pair bonds! One that sticks out in my mind is flamingos:

Two male flamingos will mate for life. They build a nest together with the rest of the flock, and a female of their flock will come lay eggs in their nest, then move back to her own! The males take care of the chicks, and the female gets to spread more of her genetic materials! (Most of the chicks turn out to be heterosexual)

You can find homosexual behavior in fish, birds(LOTS of birds actually!), reptiles, rodents, seals, pretty much EVERY animal on earth! It's not uncommon at all, it's just not documented much.

I could go forever, but I'll stop for now. If you're interested, PM me. :)

[dukedogsmom]

Oh no! Then it's true that Duke could be gay? Oh dear. What's a mama to do? Anyone have a rainbow bandana?

[Twisterdog]

I had a Siberian husky once that was gay, I swear it's true!

When I first rescued him, he wasn't neutered, and it was a while before I could get him an appointment with the vet. I thought my poor female dogs were going to hate me ... but he never once even glanced their way.

He did, however, torment my male dogs relentlessly. And not in a dominant-mounting fashion ... in a drooling, panting, pathetically-in-love fashion - exactly the way a male dog will act around a female dog in heat. He was the most submissive dog I've ever had, my five pound chihuahua could growl at him and he would roll on his back and pee on himself. Seriously.

[wolfie]

Originally posted by dukedogsmom
Oh no! Then it's true that Duke could be gay? Oh dear. What's a mama to do? Anyone have a rainbow bandana?

Teehee, we still love you Duke! :D

[wolfsoul]

We watched a video in psychology that proved that a mother's stress levels during pregnancy can lower the testosterone/estrogen levels of the babies, therby making homosexual babies. They did the study on several types of animals, but I only that they particularly said that rats do show homosexual behaviour as a result of this. I'm trying to find a site on it now...

Not to get off-topic, but the video also proved that homosexuality is not a choice as you cannot choose to lower your hormone levels. They did blood tests on several homosexual people and the results did show that they had low estrogen or testosterone levels.


Ahh here's a site I found. It's about the study that I was talking about.

http://psych.unn.ac.uk/users/nick/hormoneswshop04.htm

If the female centre predominates in a male individual (due to an early lack of testosterone) then that individual will become homosexual. In a series of experiments on rats, Dörner showed that altering levels of various hormones at the critical times could indeed alter the morphology of these structures and create male ‘homosexual’ rats.

Dörner et al., (1980) proposed that maternal stress is a key factor in the aetiology of male homosexuality as among males born in Germany between 1934 and 1953, an unusually high proportion of homosexuals were born during or immediately after the war (1941-1946). Dörner et al., (1983) also found that 75% of the mothers of homosexuals, compared to 10% of the mothers of heterosexuals were able to recall stressful episodes during pregnancy.

Ooh, and look at this site too. It's filled with interesting facts on homosexuality in animals. They researched homosexuality in over 470 species.
http://www.subversions.com/french/pages/science/animals.html

[CathyBogart]

Wolfsoul, your post made me remember something!

In animals that have litters, the position of the animal in the womb in relation to its siblings has an affect on the animal's behavior later in life.

A male mouse that is between two females in the womb will have more estrogen, and behave less aggressively towards other mice. A male between two males will be super-aggressive.

Conversely, a female positioned between two males will have high testosterone, making her more aggressive and defensive. One positioned between two females will be super mellow, and probably a great mother!

I don't know if this has anything to do with homosexuality is certain species or not, but it's interestering.

[guster girl]

Originally posted by wolfie
I don't want to know what you were searching for! lol

that's what I'm talking about. it was completely unrelated to sea mammals or sexuality, so, I don't remember how I got to it! :)

[wolfsoul]

I think Icarus was placed between two females LOL.

[Kfamr]

Thanks for the information everyone.

I will be printing this thread out and showing it to my teacher, if you all don't mind.

[CathyBogart]

Go for it! :)